Second Fissure Opens as Iceland Eruption Slows

AFP/APP

Reykjavik: Icelandic authorities reported that a second fissure had formed on the southwestern Reykjanes peninsula. However, volcanic activity had decreased after lava started spewing for the sixth time in the region since December.

After weeks of warnings, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) announced Thursday that a new eruption had started at 9:26 pm (2126 GMT), following a series of earthquakes. Video footage showed orange lava bursting out of a long fissure, estimated to be 3.9 kilometers (2.4 miles) by the IMO.

Early Friday, the IMO stated on social media that a second fissure had opened up to the north of the original one. In a later update, the agency noted that “the intensity of the eruption has decreased significantly since yesterday,” and that “the most active fissure is the one which opened during the night.”

This marks the sixth eruption in the area since December, following a previous eruption that lasted more than three weeks. The latest eruption occurred north of previous eruptions, posing less risk to the nearby fishing village of Grindavik, which was evacuated Thursday evening.

The chief of police of the Sudurnes region, Ulfar Ludviksson, mentioned that 22 or 23 houses in the village were currently occupied. Most of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents had evacuated in November before the December eruption, and while residents have been allowed to return between eruptions, only a few opted to stay overnight.

The IMO also mentioned that “northerly and northwesterly winds at the eruption site” would continue until Saturday, spreading gas pollution south and southeast, carrying it out to sea.

The Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries until March 2021. Since then, further eruptions occurred in August 2022 and July and December 2023, leading volcanologists to warn of a new era of seismic activity in the region.

Iceland is home to 33 active volcano systems, the highest number in Europe, straddling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.